The most published newspaper article in history comes from a letter that eight year old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote to newsman Francis Pharcellus Church in the year 1897. She wrote to inquire whether or not there was a real Santa Claus. Mr. Church answered that question in an unsigned article published on 9/21/1897 in the New York Sun newspaper. It was titled, “Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus.”

In today’s blog and the one which will follow next week, I want to answer a question that was asked to me this past week by a sincere and concerned man. Frustrated by the idiocy (noun, Definition – a form of government in which a country or territory is run by fools), of politicians in Washington and across America, he asked me, “Pastor Lee, these days I don’t know who to support or vote for. How can I know if a person is a fool or not? Am I wrong to call a person a fool?”

Well, today Bob I will tell you, “Yes, indeed, there are people who are complete fools, not only in politics but in every area of life, and it is not wrong to label a fool, a fool.”

In my boyhood, my mother forbade our family to call any other person a fool. Dad didn’t seem to care if we did or not – I guess he had met too many of them in person.

My mother’s conviction came from the scriptural admonition found in Matthew 5:22 where Jesus told His disciples that whoever is angry with his Christian brother and calls out to him “you fool” shall be found guilty before God. Pretty serious warning, and mother knew it.

But what mother did not know was that contextually Jesus was speaking of a person who was filled with unrighteous anger and out of that anger labeled his brother a “fool.” It’s the motive behind the action that is really the basis of this warning, not the label of a person being a fool.

Also, consider the fact that “stupidness” can occur from fools and non-fools alike. Here are just a few examples of “stupid actions” from recent events.

1. Just a few days ago there occurred an upheaval among some folks concerning the War Between the States, which happened 150 years ago, resulting in the destruction of the Statues of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

As a result of this, people who bear the name of Lee are now instructed to be careful not to traumatize others by mentioning their own last name. By the way, the name of Lee, Li or Lea is the most common last name on planet earth. Whoops! That’s scary. It’s also stupid.

2. This week Miss…Mr…Anita Green entered the Miss Montana USA pageant. Anita, who is a transgender woman/man was, as you might expect, received with open arms by all the fellow contestants and embraced by the media as a heroine/hero for coming out and expressing her/his true feelings of femininity. That’s stupid and sickening all at the same time.

3. Perhaps someone could tell her/him that if she/he would shave her/his hairy knuckles, her/he might be closer to winning the crown. Is she/he a pretty girl/boy? Well, it depends if you are attracted to buffaloes or not, after all it is Montana.The Daily Caller reported today that the Portland Oregon police department has been ordered to purge their gang database because there aren’t enough white people in the gangs. After 20 years of gathering information on those suspected of gang membership by the police, all of that information gathered will be purged from their systems due to the fact that most of those affiliated with gangs are minorities. The hope is now that the gangs and their goons will no longer feel personally offended by being singled out by police as they have been in the past. That one is double stupid.

4.Finally, the College Fix reports that UCLA professor Gregory Okin’s recent research on global warming and the environment leads to his recommendation that household pets in the future should be reptiles, birds and hamsters instead of dogs and cats.

According to professor Okin dogs and cats “create the equivalent of 64 million tons of carbon dioxide per year or the equivalent of driving 13.6 million cars.” Something needs to be done about these cats and dogs.

OK professor, go ahead and try to take “Fefe” the little poodle from Grandma’s arms. But before that, take time to make your funeral arrangements…if they can find your remains! REALLY STUPID.

I’m sure that now you get it – stupid people do stupid things. But it is one thing just to be stupid. All of us have done something stupid sometime or the other. Being a “fool” is quite a step beyond stupid.

How do we recognize a fool? Next week we will look into the Bible and see how to identify and react to a person who is a fool. Stay tuned, as they say.